Average Joes 2013 - Match Day 4

Average Joes 0 – 2 Orc Knees

Another day to forget for Average Joes as they lost back-to-back games for the first time in four years, and failed to register on the scoreboard in five years and five tournaments.  The two victories gained earlier in the campaign mean they should still qualify for the upper knockout rounds, but may now face meeting the winner of group 1 unless they gain an impressive victory over their match day 5 (last group game) human opponents.

This was ‘Joes third consecutive matchup against an Orc side, and it showed with a rating difference of 20, thanks to more injuries – this time it was rat Ogre Shirley and gutter runner The Rat who were unavailable.  The orcs won the toss and chose to receive in the midst of a first half snow blizzard.  The blizzard abated at half time, but only after the ‘Knees had scored and ‘Joes had lost two players seriously injured, of which they felt the loss of storm vermin Tank the keenest.  Luckily a couple of dodgy looking (and fairly masculine) bloodwiser ‘Babes’ convinced the several knocked out rats that the pitch was the safest place to be in the second half.  The Orcs had sportingly scored relatively early in the first half – turn 6 – and the rats had a chance at stealing a touchdown back immediately, but a combination of poor planning and a comical failed leap attempt by Pepper Brooks kept the score at 1-0.

The second half saw ‘Joes carry on where they left off, with an inept cage, followed by a gutter runner (Cotton McKnight this time) failing a simple dodge to leave the ball loose when it was easier to score.  They managed to fashion a third chance at equalising, but most of the 19,000 crowd were unsurprised by this time to see linerat ‘Dive’ fall over in the Orc endzone, and gift the Orcs the ball.  At this point the majority of ‘Joes 10,000 fans left the stadium.  The rats delaying tactics were dogged by more incompetence in the dodging department, and the orcs went on to score their second late on and put the seal on a solid victory.

Post-Game

In terms of tactics Average Joes improved on their previous two appearances verses Orc sides, choosing to stand off and let the opposition do the running while the rats took few casualties, whereas in previous matches they had got too close and suffered for it.  The lack of injuries could also be attributed to the Orcs failure to remove their kid cloves before kickoff.  A significant number of dodges were failed, along with 3 easy critical rolls which would have given an equaliser – by the third it became clear it simply wasn’t ‘Joes day.  On the up side however the two injured rats both recovered enough to return on match day 5 against the humans in the rats last attempt at gaining some points to boost them up the table and away from the big guns.  A full team of 15 players will be available.

Layout and the Mold Cape

Yes, your still in the right place, I've just tinkered with the layout for something to do while I wait for an iPhone to update and restore - the joys of modern life!

Thought I'd also add in something extra, rather than just have this as a 'I've changed the layout' post, so here goes:

I currently work with the Wrexham museum at the nearby Bersham Heritage Centre (good stuff, very interesting and thoroughly under-appreciated), but in the museum itself they currently have the Mold Cape until the 14th of September.  Well worth a visit even if your area of interest isn't the ealry bronze age, it just has a presence of its own, and is rated in the top ten of the British Museums treasures.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_prb/t/the_mold_gold_cape.aspx
http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/heritage/events.cfm

Work In Progress….July 2013

It’s a bit late for a July work in progress, but I’ve just realised I haven’t done one.  Too busy being distracted by a number of things (birthdays, work, unsuccessful job applications etc) to get my act together.  So onto a brief recap of the month;

Gauntlet has been and gone, and with it my English Civil War army which is now fully painted, and sitting in a set of foam trays upstairs desperately begging to be used again, something which hopefully won’t take too long.  Playing time has been split between a number of games, and I’ve had a bash at Saga with my Welsh, American Civil War with Will’s fantastic 20mm plastics, and Dreadball, as well as losing a Deeside league game of Bloodbowl.  Having finished the Royalists I decided to start painting a few of the 6mm American Civil War, and was pleasantly surprised in that not only did they look ok, they also painted up fairly swiftly.  I couldn’t decide, however, how to base them, apart from sticking them to 2mm thick MDF bases from Warbases.  After wandering in and out of the garage indecisively looking for a colour of flock I simply didn’t have I placed an order with Baccus for theirs, and a bag of their fine sand, and await the arrival of it. 

In terms of numbers for my painted ratio I am counting the strips of 4 infantry or 3 cavalry as 1 figure (to make the comparison to 28mm painting time etc).  I have now painted and stuck to their bases a total  of 36 strips of infantry, and 8 cavalry, and I’m working on another 14 strips at the moment.  They are sadly unfinished until I get the basing materials and add the varnish and flags!  They do make up a total of 3 infantry regiments (with 1 and 2 cannon on the painting table) and 2 cavalry troops however.  I have also painted up 4 members of my Dreadball team, having plumbed for a light blue colour for the strip, and gone with using the army painter dip system again.  It makes them a bit darker, but they look fine.

Scores on the doors time, and the last 32 from June are included because they weren’t last time out, plus the 4 Dreadball players and the referee.  The 6mm ACW will have to wait:

Painted: 293

Purchased:  441